Akule's updated cooling fans

 My telescope mirror is 15lbs of Pyrex glass and retains too much heat, so it has a custom TEC cooling system with fans, no big deal…( https://maphilli14.webs.com/apps/blog/show/21342955-akule-s-cooling )

The original fans are in the blog entry from the original creation of Akule in 2011 and I upgraded them in 2015 to these fans.

 

 

 

 

 

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO!  But, sadly it's 2021 and I did this upgrade back in 2015 when one of the fans stopped working and I couldn't get a Rosewill replacement and I wanted the same CFM for balance across the plate.  I upgraded them all and while it's a bit heavier and I'm past the 65lbs limit of my CGE by far it's not been a terrible experience!

 

Here's a shot with old fan on Right and new on Left

 

 

Here's a close up of the bottom where the TEC cooler recesses into the plexiglass.

 

Why cool the heavy mirror?  It's #4 on my basics of high res planetary imaging - https://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/p/seeing-collimation-and-focusing.html

 

"This means having no heat plumes inside your OTA that cause locally significant seeing issues.  It may be as simple as setting your scope outside a few hours before hand to help cool it.  The larger your mirror and the more closed your tube design the more help you'll need"

 

Next up in this multipart series is monitoring the temperature of the mirror relative to the air.  I used to use a nice indoor / outdoor thermometer but it broke!